


What Happens In New Zealand Stays In New Zealand

by htebazytook



Category: Lord of the Rings RPF
Genre: Character Bleed, First Time, Humor, M/M, New Zealand, Nostalgia, Reunions, Smut
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2011-06-05
Updated: 2011-06-05
Packaged: 2017-10-27 15:39:59
Rating: Mature
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 4,054
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/297414
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/htebazytook/pseuds/htebazytook
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
      <p>You don't miss your  10 year Middle-earth reunion.</p>
    </blockquote>





	What Happens In New Zealand Stays In New Zealand

**Author's Note:**

> You don't miss your 10 year Middle-earth reunion.

_**What Happens In New Zealand Stays In New Zealand**_  
 **Title:** What Happens In New Zealand Stays In New Zealand  
 **Author:** [](http://htebazytook.livejournal.com/profile)[**htebazytook**](http://htebazytook.livejournal.com/)  
 **Rating:** R  
 **Disclaimer:** <\--  
 **Pairing:** Sean Astin/Elijah Wood. With a side of Dom/Billy.  
 **Author's Notes:** You don't miss your 10 year Middle-earth reunion.

Elijah knows he's been a grownup for awhile, but something about living long enough to say 'over a decade ago' about anything really hammers it home.

He's braced himself for the obligatory chit chat about everyone's current projects and whimsically recounted anecdotes from the past that everyone just laughs at because they're from the past, but instead it's like he'd stepped off the plane and into a time machine where every old relationship was suddenly vibrant and familiar and nobody even thought of talking about the actual present.

There had been happy little power reunions at the airport, but everyone had dispersed to baggage claim and currency exchange and hotels as quickly as possible, and by the time all the necessities were done with it was much too late for a civilized dinner, and so after a hurricane of texting the lot of them ended up at a local bar.

"Elijah?"

Elijah looks over his shoulder and finds Sean. Astin, that is. And it surprises a smile out of him. Oh sure, he'd engaged in a hobbit pile at the airport with Billy and Dom but Sean hadn't been there. It hits Elijah that he sees Dom all the time, no matter that he's in Hawaii or back home or wherever doing work, but he only ever sees Sean when the whole group reunites like this. And it might be the buzz of beer settling in his brain but Elijah feels guilty about it the whole way through the hug Sean gives him.

"Hi," Elijah says.

"Yeah. Yeah, so, how was the flight?"

"Oh um… long. I guess. I mean, it was fine. I listened to music."

They've got this nervous vibe going on and Elijah wishes Sean would fix it, however he's smiling and nodding much too much to be in any condition to do so.

Elijah laughs. "So, I've got to admit I've forgotten how to carry on a conversation, since I've been hanging around the dynamic duo that is Monaboyd, and they tend to just perpetuate even the most frivilous conversation into infinity."

"'Monaboyd'?"

"I dunno, Dom says it." They both laugh but the nervousness has yet to dissipate, and Elijah tries hard to remember what their dynamic had been like before, or if they'd ever really had much of one. All he knows is he feels caught off guard and like it's desperately important for Sean to recognize him, because 10 years can't not change you.

"Hey, I liked the vampire thing you did," Sean is saying, like he's been trying to remember his talking points and just had an epiphany.

"Did you read the book?" Elijah says, with an SNL quality straight face. So, shitty.

Sean's eyes widen as he tries to keep up. "Oh, no, but, I mean, Alexandra is really into it—"

Elijah had forgotten how nice it was to interact with someone more gullible than him. "I'm not in Twilight, Sean. I refuse to believe you're seriously that out of the loop."

"Well, the guy stole your hair."

"Yeah, and added a rats nest or two on top." Elijah shouldn't be so amused by Sean trying to be in the know. "Did you mean Sin City?"

"No. I… think there was French."

Elijah laughs. "Ah."

"Hey, I think I need a refill. Do you–?"

"Yeah, actually." Elijah downs the remainder of his drink and follows Sean to the bar.

Billy and Dom are there, effectively holding court. They're just about to exchange greetings when Orlando pops up out of nowhere.

"So?" Dom says. Billy blinks at Orlando sidekickly.

Orlando tilts his head. "Mm?"

"Orlando," Dom says.

"Yes."

"Orlando," Billy says.

"Spit it out, guys."

Dom shakes his head incredulously. "Oh my God what do you think dumbass?"

"'Hobbit' gossip, stat," Billy says.

"Right, right," Orlando nods. "But then I'd have to kill you, you know."

Dom waves it off while Billy's raised eyebrow makes sure Orlando knows he's not impressed.

Orlando laughs. "But no, I'm dead serious. Really."

Elijah has been trying to get a word in edgewise: "I'm in it too, you know. And like— dude, stop staring at me. You know I'll always win."

Dom doesn't relent in his ocular assault.

"And obviously I can't say anything either. I signed stuff, man, come on, you know, you _were_ on Lost, right?"

Dom's nodding slowly. "I will break you."

Elijah rolls his eyes while Orlando pats him on the back, says, "Good luck to you, mate," and departs.

Billy's squinting at Elijah like he's some new species. "Wait, so did you not fly in with the rest of us, then? Was that whole airport meet and greet some sort of hoax and you've really been filming secret Frodo cameos for weeks now?"

Elijah shrugs. "On the advice of counsel, I respectfully assert my right to remain silent and decline to answer your questions."

"Right, well, fuck you then."

Sean jumps in: "Okay, well, we did come over here for drinks, so."

By round who knows what they're sitting in one of those C shaped booths, the four of them with Orlando squeezed in on the edge of the seat. Sean sits next to Elijah and the sense of déjà vu pulses in Elijah's head. He'd just _forgotten_ about Sean. How?

Sean's one of those unbelievably sweet people that makes you adore him instantly. And makes you feel both like an asshole and a better person just for being around him.

They talk about nothing, have no easy conversation groove but it still feels essential and good and Elijah is inexplicably nervous. He could talk to Sean easily enough back home, but being here makes that sense of returning to some past reality less sweet and nostalgic and more overpowering.

Elijah's busy laughing at something when he catches Sean's eye. And it's like Sean's been staring at him for awhile now. This burst of feeling in his chest and Elijah plans on lobbying for nostalgia to be considered a terminal disease with its own ribbons and fundraising events, and of course he'll be attending them all as the 'celebrity' spokesperson and an attempt to cure himself. And as for the present he must be staring pretty blankly back in Sean's direction because Sean laughs.

Elijah's unfazed by looking deeply into Sean's eyes, and the alcohol helps of course, and so does the ever-changing shades of gray green brown gold and the familiar symmetry of his face. Somewhere in the background Sean touches Elijah's face and tilts his chin and kisses him.

Elijah's eyes close of their own accord and he gets immersed in the softness of it, and it's no quick affectionate kiss although it can't last more than 5 seconds. There's a strongly fragile intention that stretches between them even when it's over.

And they're still so close that Elijah whispers, "What . . ." across Sean's cheek.

"What happens in New Zealand stays in New Zealand," Sean says vaguely.

Elijah hears him, but truth be told he's mostly focused on the shine of his kiss wet lips. And he knows that this is a bad idea all around, but he's just drunk and nostalgic enough to forget about that for now.

*

Elijah isn't sure what it is about being back in New Zealand, but apparently there's some kind of aphrodisiac spreading like wildfire because it seems that every time they meet up people miraculously forget about any newly acquired wives or general heterosexuality and end up making out like teenagers. It all would have made more sense before--you know, when Elijah actually was a teenager.

It's weird how easy it is, the way that everyone divides up. Dark clubs and narrow perspective, this feeling of being limited by the foreignness of the place and drawn magnetically to your fellow travelers. Elijah had anticipated a week of touristy fun, but now he can't imagine why. During filming life was completely ruled by liquids–living from coffee to coffee to beer to shots to coffee again. This perpetual zombie state of always being tired, punctuated by bursts of caffeine or drunkenness.

Elijah finds Dom at the club (and by extension Billy) before his eyes have even adjusted to the dim lighting.

"Wassup!" Dom says.

"IkissedSeanlastnight," Elijah blurts.

Billy gives him a look. "Um, yeah, we were there, remember?"

"Yep."

Elijah gives them a look right back. "I'm freaking out. He kissed _me_. kind of. I don't know . . ."

Dom says, "Dude, you need to find a new expression. Seriously."

Billy says, "Yeah . . ."

Elijah might growl a little, and it pleases him that he gets some widening eyes in response. "Look, I'm just freaking out because it's not like I have some super secret lifelong crush on him or something, and I just sort of went with it in the moment, and–"

"Please," Dom says, "you're always giving him the full on Elijah stare."

"And I must say it's a particularly longing incarnation," Billy adds.

"Almost wistful, wouldn't you say?"

"Yeah, yeah. You can stop gaping any time there, Lijah."

"Um," Elijah says.

Dom shrugs, puts an arm around Billy. "Anyway, it's not a big deal. Look at us–we shagged last night and you don't see us freaking out about it."

Elijah frowns, blinks, settles for pointing an accusing finger at Billy. "Married."

"Psh," Billy says. "This is completely different."

"Yeah, because it's a dude. Who isn't your wife. Just saying."

"Oh bugger off. Homewrecker," Billy retorts.

"No come on, shut up, that's the whole reason why I'm freaking out. Asshole."

"Listen, Elijah," Billy says seriously. "If you're looking to woo him, I'd highly recommend the use of a guitar, perhaps, or some other equally seductive instrument."

Dom nods. "Yeah, that's how Billy woo'd me into bed once upon a time."

"Worked like a charm, it did. The wooing."

"He woo'd the pants right off of me."

"Literally, mind you."

Elijah frowns at them. "Why do you keep saying 'woo'd'?"

"Saying what?" And that's Sean who's snuck up on them all of a sudden, and Elijah is proud of himself for not jumping a foot in the air no matter that Billy and Dom just burst into laughter anyway.

Elijah sighs, bravely turns to look Sean in the face and is surprised by how easy it is. "Never mind. Hey, I think there's a clearing in the bodies over there."

"That sounded pretty morbid, man," Sean says, but he walks with him.

They don't talk about the kiss at all, and Elijah's not sure why he thinks they would. All he knows is that he selfishly wants it again, wants to figure out if he had maybe always had a thing for Sean somewhere beneath the affectionate little transactions, the innocent pure cliché'd Frodo and Sam style friendship.

"It's weird being back," Sean says.

"Yeah, yeah. No, it really is, though." He drinks for something to do.

"It feels like no time has passed or something. Really weird."

"Like, I dunno, we could've gone sightseeing and shit but instead were just chilling at bars just like during filming, you know? It feels totally normal."

"Yeah," Sean says, and Elijah's distracted by how familiar he is all at once. That intimate thing where you know every mannerism, every silly tone of voice someone has and can't get enough of hearing it over and over again. There's something in the fucking air here, that's for sure, because he's been under the influence of it since he stepped off the plane.

Sean watches him, calm, hazel-eyed, watches and takes note and looks out for him like always. And Elijah has always considered himself fairly well spoken, but he's out of his element in the face of this and he can't quite hold it back anymore: "I feel like I'm a different person here. Not different, but like, who I used to be or something, I dunno. It's throwing me off, man."

"Yeah, I know the feeling," Sean says, still studying. "Of course we've seen each other plenty of times over the years, but it feels like we're meeting for the first time since the end of filming."

"Yeah, exactly. Always being tired."

"Stupid games."

"And your unfounded worry for every one of them," Elijah smiles.

But Sean smiles back for too long. Elijah feels his face get hot and tries hard not to swallow. "You have this air about you, Elijah. It’s the weirdest thing–you look so young, and you've always been so mature for your age, but now you've really grown into that mentality although your identity hasn't changed. I can't verbalize it very well, clearly, but you're just like that, and sometimes it shines through, somehow. But I love you anyway."

And it's not weird or anything because this whole group professes their love for one another from the rooftops constantly, but it means more from Sean in this dark club in this far country.

Elijah's on the verge of giving in to the impulse to kiss him with less than a single beer in his system when Sean looks at his watch and says, "Well, anyway, as much as I wanna hang around I'm finally allowed to pull the 'I'm too old for this shit' card and check out early, so . . ."

Elijah shakes his head. "It didn't work then and it doesn't work now." Then he looks closer and glimpses something a little wild card in Sean's eyes. "Let me walk you out," Elijah says, half questioning.

The corner of Sean's mouth quirks and his hand finds Elijah's and he's leading him away, past Orlando battling Viggo in a drinking game and Karl and Ian laughing about something and Dom straddling Billy's lap out of the corner of his eye.

The sound of the side door opening and closing again is deafening, and the brick of the wall is solid and clingy-rough when Sean gets Elijah up against it and reacquaints their mouths.

And Elijah pours his anxiety over the whole thing out into giving into it–pulls Sean closer by the front of the shirt and kisses back using his whole body, ingesting Sean's breathy groan and pressing as close to him as possible in an effort to calm his racing pulse. Instead Elijah's heart jumps into his throat at the first uncautious swipe of tongue and he finds himself sucking and licking and wanting more.

Sean stills his squirming suddenly, which knocks the breath out of Elijah him a lovely way, then leans in to kiss better at this new angle where their lips fit so well together. Sean's fingers seeking purchase in Elijah's hair and failing but it still sends a shiver down Elijah's spine.

The wet sound of Sean detaching to kiss the side of Elijah's neck expressively and Elijah starts to surrender to the dizziness of it all when Sean returns to kiss his mouth again, insistent and yes this is happening and so hot against this meek attempt at winter.

Elijah escapes enough to gasp for air, eyes closed against everything until Sean turns his head back and makes him look at him. Elijah can't even imagine how creepily wide his eyes are right now.

"You're–"

"We should probably be heading home," Elijah blurts.

And just like before there is no further conversation, just standing together on the dark chilly street waiting for their separate cabs.

*

The rest of the week flies by, and there is some sightseeing and aimless driving across the country to remembered locations. Dom and Billy get lost and fight about whose fault it was and don't speak to each other for about half an hour, which was an incredible phenomenon to witness. Orlando had insisted on bungee jumping but they'd never looked up the hours and therefore wasted a whole day preparing and renting equipment and driving to the damn place that closed at five o'clock on the dot. Viggo had forced them all to go fishing and Sean had been ready to dive into the shallow creek and save somebody at any moment.

The hobbits sit together at the bar on the last night, Sean's leg all up against Elijah's.

"Remember when you cut your foot?" Elijah says.

"Why yes I do."

"And Dom did too. I mean, not as badly as you, but still, what were they thinking letting us run around practically barefoot?"

Sean smiles.

"Ooh ooh, do you remember when the helicopters–?"

"Yes, Elijah. I was there."

Elijah laughs, giddy with reminiscence, opens his mouth to say something but Sean's on the move.

"Where—?"

"Be right back," Sean says, disappearing into the crowd quick.

Elijah hadn't been paying Dom and Billy much attention, and clearly he's missed some important turns in the conversation because when he faces them they're the most serious he's ever seen them and Elijah's surely in some alternate universe after all.

Dom's got his hand on Billy's knee. "I just. God, Billy, you know I . . . you know."

Billy stares for a minute like he's trying desperately to bite his tongue, then hides in his drink to say, "I know."

"Just—"

"Fuck, Dom. I miss you all the time. I hate it. God."

Dom's grinning at him. "You're sloshed."

"Am not."

"Come here." And somehow they're occupying the same barstool.

Elijah takes that as his cue to leave, but as he walks through the masses there's no one to talk to. Viggo and Orlando are sequestered off and the others are similarly paired up and preoccupied.

Although everyone was friends there were definite little subsects and default partnerships within the group. This was the night before they said goodbye to their flashback vacation, and everyone seemed drawn to their designated other halves instead of free and fun and all over the place. It was all a little too serious for Elijah's taste.

Elijah recognizes that it may be that he's starting to feel it himself, or it may just being a side effect of watching the edge of desperation among them, but whatever it is it inspires him to some kind of boldness in this.

He finds Sean somehow, starts talking without thinking:

"Sean." Elijah seizes one of his hands on impulse. "Sean. You always took care of me. You still do. I wouldn't have got far without you."

But Sean laughs, because Elijah always makes fun of him for it.

"No, I'm being serious, I mean it." Elijah looks down at their hands. "Hey, let's get out of here."

"It's a little late for coffee," Sean says, but Elijah can feel his eyes before he looks up into them in and has his breath confiscated.

Elijah leads him away like Sean had before, but this time they end up back at Elijah's hotel without a word, Sean touching Elijah's hand and knee absently the whole ride over.

There is no time between the door shutting and Sean kissing him again, practically tripping over Elijah's still open suitcase. Elijah's back hits a wall loud and it makes him drop his keys loud while Sean kisses him like a deafening roar of lust. Elijah winds his arms tight around Sean's neck and holds on for dear life.

This attraction to Sean is so strange and subconscious, like its borrowed from some secret part of his psyche, and it's never been like this with anybody–he has no game plan, no predictable transactions of flesh, just the all-encompassing need to become as close to him as possible, physically, however he can.

Elijah pushes him back enough to move a little, yanks his shirt over his head with some difficulty, all caught up in sleeves but of course Sean helps. Elijah finally escapes the fabric, is about to launch an assault on Sean's shirt but is thwarted by Sean capturing his wrists at his sides and kissing his hip, bellybutton, nipples, collarbone, sucks at his neck and sucks in his lips and tongue again. Elijah can only moan and revel in it, grind into Sean's obvious hardness helplessly and swallow the noise he makes.

Elijah's no prude. He's kissed his fair share of both sexes, but he's never actually gotten this far with another guy, and he's a little shocked by how it isn't shocking him. Lust is simple and apparently easy to translate. And this is such a deep and underlying version of lust that no mere biology can get in the way. Elijah's choked by how much he wants this and it's all he can think of.

Elijah wins the kiss over to his control, urging Sean back to sit on the bed and kissing down his chest, unbuttoning along the way. Sean just pants and tries to say something and can't seem to stop threading his fingers through Elijah's hair.

Elijah's too impatient to bother with removing Sean's jeans properly, just sort of rearranges things and goes for it. He licks up Sean's cock tentatively, balking just a little at the situation but then he hears his name on Sean's tongue and his blood catches fire again. Elijah takes him in his mouth and tries to reenact things that he'd always enjoyed– fast movement with alternating suction, these drawn out moments here and there where he'd just suck hard on the tip or lick random everywhere on the upstroke.

And Elijah's fully planning on accomplishing this but Sean seems to have other plans, pulls him up onto the bed with surprising force that makes Elijah laugh before it's stoppered with a kiss. And they haven't kissed lying down yet, and Elijah feels so delicious to be there half naked with his head spinning from the fact that it's Sean and winding a leg up to align them better, reaching down to undo his fly at the same time as Sean and that makes him laugh, too.

Sean bats Elijah's hand away and makes quick work of it, wraps his hands around Elijah's cock gloriously and Elijah's head falls back on some mindless utterance. Sean takes the opportunity to kiss his neck and rearrange them so he can thrust against him, one hand keeping their cocks together lusciously but as good as it is it's not quite right. Elijah's hand joins Sean's and that's better, and he meets his thrusts awkwardly a few times before something locks in and it just works and Elijah is hot with pleasure and Sean and–

Sean comes first, and then it's just that much more slippery to bring Elijah over the edge with him, clenching his hand in bedsheet and Sean's hair while Sean kisses him back into languidness, falls away when the need for air is too much to stare up at the ceiling.

"So remind me again," Sean says, breathless. "Why don't we see each other more back home?"

Elijah stops fixating on the movement of his mouth, joins him in panting at the ceiling. "Because this is what would happen?"

"Heh."

*

At the airport there are goodbyes to be said–not everyone is taking the same convoluted route back to their country of origin or LA or whatever. As luck would have it, he and Sean are on the same flight.

Elijah isn't sure what to think, dreads leaving the time machine and finding himself back in reality, knows he'll never really be whole again, that at least one little chunk of himself resides only in New Zealand 10 years ago.

"Well," Sean says, a little while after takeoff, "we did it."

Elijah frowns. "We did what?"

"We went there and back again."

Elijah laughs. "You're ridiculous." He misses Sean's face, he misses Sean's laugh. They're not even an hour into the flight yet.

But Sean can read him better than anybody ever has, really read him, not just guess at his eyes without thinking about it. "What?"

"What are we holding onto, Sean?" Elijah says, not sure if he's quite talking about the two of them or life in general or something else entirely.

Sean doesn't answer, just lets his arm fall around Elijah's shoulders. Elijah leans into it and wonders about the next 10 years.

*


End file.
